It's a game of opinions isn't it, I thought we were shocking first half and much better second until the rather strange decision to replace Gallagher with a defender.

Terrible performance but we got the 3 points which was all that mattered really .......especially with the Dingles getting stuffed. Strange decisions on the substitute front, Gallagher was atrocious and rightly hooked but bringing on a defender for an attacker lost us all momentum and we never got it back. Rather fortunate to hold onto the three points in the end. Best performance from Brittain since he's been at the Club. Streaky to say the least but onwards and upwards..... If only we could put a performance in next Sunday!

We need a decent striker and a midfielder that can dictate the play. I've no idea as to names but it's up to those at the Club who are handsomely paid to do so to identify the right type of players more or less within our budget.

Surprised to see the level of criticism on here for the two Wharton's - as has been pointed out by my sparring partner MP, in general when Scott plays we win and when he doesn't we don't. Also although I only caught the second half last night I thought Adam was our most likely looking player so I certainly wouldn't be dropping him either. If anyone I'd be looking at Travis who gave the ball away time after time last night and seems to have completely lost his mojo. I'm not sure either why people are clamouring for the return of Gallagher, he won't bring anything particular to the party, a classic case of a player improving in people's minds during their absence. We need BBD to pull out one final effort before the World Cup break and improve on his showing last night and then do what we failed to do last January and in the summer and sign a decent striker.

Only managed to catch the second half tonight. From that it seemed to me to be an exceptionally complacent performance in that we seemed to be under the impression that we only needed to continue playing at the fairly leisurely pace we wanted to play at and sooner or later we'd get back in the game. It didn't happen in fact in reality we lacked any real intent or intensity and rarely stretched the opposition back line or troubled their keeper. Individally I know Szmodics has chipped in with a few goals but I still think he's rubbish and Hirst - Christ - BUT - what annoys me most about him was we knew we were signing a striker with a record of 0/32 at this level before he came here - so what led anyone to believe it might be any different? If you sign someone with a decent track record then maybe you can make out you've been a bit unlucky that he's failed to perform, but when you sign someone who's previously completely bombed, you only have your selves to blame. Nineteen games in and I still have no idea whatsoever to expect from this team on any given day. If we were handing out points on performances we'd be hovering just above the bottom three, I literally have no idea how we're second in the table having generally played so poorly and having lost something approaching half our games. After each defeat I expect everything to come crashing down to earth with a bump but we've generally responded to a defeat by pulling out an unexpected victory. I hope we continue to do this but fear it wont last much longer unless we start to play a lot better.

Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N Roses.

Delighted with that - one of the better performances of the season and if there were 4 games I wanted to win all season they were the fixtures against Burnley and Sunderand. Decent debut by Garratt, saw more from him in 90 mins than in 8 years from the fraud Evans on the other side tonight. Think we are flattering to deceive a bit but can't complain with the League position, let's hope we are still in contention comr the end of the season. Shows what a good decision it was by the owners to hold firm on BBD, dread to think where we'd be without him. Fuck off Mowbray.

Yes, I'm still waiting to see evidence of this high tempo pressing game supposedly favoured by the manager as well.

Worrying night again - when you boil it down football is a fairly simple game and imo from what I've seen this season we've too many poor players in and around the starting eleven. You might be able to get away with one passenger like Gallagher but when you've got a plethora of players that imo aren't up to it such as Gallagher, Hirst, Szmodics, and Hedges then you aren't going to achieve results on a consistent enough basis. in fact the only surprise is that our win ratio is as high as it is. Unfortunately I dont see that 50% rate continuing unless there is a massive uplift in performance levels in general. Conversely our most talented player, who badly needs game time to recover match sharpness can't get a look in and Morton as far as I can see isn't a patch on our own homegrown talent Adam Wharton and is merely serving to keep him out of the side and hinder his development. For me we need to start Dack and the younger Wharton and the other players should be covering for them if required, not the other way round However we can change tactics /personnel the thing that arguably worries me the most is seeing us tip tap the ball about at the back with zero urgency when we're a goal down. We saw the same thing at home a few weeks ago against Bristol City when 1-3 behind. To me that indicates a lack of passion and desire and maybe indicates the players aren't fully buying into what they are being asked to do by JDT.

Not sure if Gallagher was 100% fit but one thing is for sure - he is 100% shite. I'm not sure how we've managed to stumble upon two strikers as bad as Gallagher and Hirst. If you gave anyone on here c £6m (£5m plus a loan fee) and said "Find me 2 strikers" you'd be seriously hard pressed to do worse than those two

Have to say things are looking a bit worrying. We look absolutely terrible, and are being massively flattered by the unexpectedly good start in the first three games. Recruitment is still generally very poor imo - Hedges /Szmodics/ Hirst absolute rubbish. Morton not as good as A Wharton or even Buckley when he's on form. (WTF has happened to him BTW?) I thought the one positive tonight was the performance of Dack, although not on the pitch long he managed to get in a number of great positions had me managed to pick him out and was really unlucky with the goal that was pulled back. Knows when and where to make the runs and the positions to get into, the rest don't. HAS to start for me.

Jimmy Quinn was 100x the player Hirst is. How can you possibly scout him and come up with him as your main striking target? He's beyond useless, there must be better than him at Conference level.

Smodics "cheap" at £2.5m?

So we give the penalty to someone with a record of something like 0 in 36 at this level. Why didn't Dack take it? I give up.

Don't understand why our best CB Scott Wharton isn't playing. Also don't understand why Dack can't get a look in and Adam Wharton has been overlooked since signing a contract. The latter has to be ahead of Buckley at the moment surely. Still think Hedges is useless and Szmodics is playing after all - just noticed he's picked up a yellow!

Couldn't make it tonight and wasn't expecting anything after the last performance so delighted with those three points. Scott Wharton comes back in and we win. I might be wrong but think we have won every game he's started this season. Extremely under-rated player and his importance to the side can't be overstated.

It smacks a bit of Gallagher though giving Buckley a 5 year deal just as he completely runs out of form. If Broughton manages to tie down players who are actually likely to be sought after like Phillips and Wharton to long term deals and Brereton to any sort of deal that gives us a bit of protection then that will be the time to sit up and take notice.

Well no, not given he was completely anonymous apart from that. Took his goal well though.

I wish I'd had a fiver for every post during the transfer window that said Brereton "MUST" be sold. I'd be able to retire!

🤣🤣 That's got to be close to being post of the entire thread!!

Has anyone ACTUALLY complained about that though or are you making it up? Anyhow, surprised you're still around after slagging off the "Dack fan Club" last Saturday. Any thoughts on his performance against Blackpool?

Souness and Simon Jordan were saying much the same when discussing the departure of Alex Neil last week. They were saying Sunderland were probably wanting to develop younger players whereas Neil probably wanted backing to have a tilt at promotion.

Lot of random thoughts about this particular window. I'll put them down in no particular order: I'd say it was a decent window rather than a sensational one. Think we missed out on most of our original targets, obviously started off after the CH who went to Sheff Utd then at one stage I believe we were after the 2 Van's, Styles and a lad from South America and ended up with completely different personnel instead, but we may not be too much the worse for that. The main plus from this window for me by a country mile was keeping hold of BBD so well done to the owners on that. It may be a bit juvenile but I absolutely love it when PL Clubs and those from abroad come in thinking they can push us about and make derisory offers and end up getting the old two fingered salute. As a few of us said right from the start of the window (and got derided for it) there was always a decent budget available for transfers irrespective of any BBD sale. I don't think anyone can complain at £6.5 m spent on fees, 3 loans and BBD still here. (Although I'm sure Gav and roversfan 99 will!) In my opinion that was some of the money spent that was made available to Mowbray in January had he choose to utilise it. Individually, we've hopefully made a couple of solid signings in Hyam and Brittain. Morton looks decent enough and the lad from Chelsea is intriguing, hopefully he can do a job at LB. Very much doubt Hirst will do enough to make it worth our while signing him but as certain people might have mentioned once or twice we won't be stuck with him if it doesn't come off. Think we've had our pants pulled down on Szmodics but hopefully Dack is returning to form. So overall, more good than bad, not perfect but Rome wasn't built in a day and Mowbray and Waggott left us far too much to rectify in one window. Onwards and upwards.

Bit sceptical about this Dembele link. Can he play on the right? If so could be just what we need.

Which one?